Gentle Movement as an Ally to Healing Trauma.

Bee in a yellow rose

Earlier this year I went to brunch with a long-time friend. Part of our catching up involved sharing our feelings of dismay and helplessness around the current political climate. One thing I shared that helps me manage my fear is remembering that my ability to regulate my nervous system, even under extreme distress, is an internal ally for us all.

At that time, I remember feeling waves of immense fear, of what might happen to me, my community, people that I know that have more vulnerabilities than myself. As time goes on, that fear is still present, but it doesn’t feel like the initial wave of fear that I experienced. I relate this to couples work. Many times the couple will have an argument early in their relationship. The first time they go through the rupture, it can feels futile and hopeless to repair. What I know about couples working in therapy is that the first wave of this rupture is the hardest, and over time with skills and solid foundation based on love, that the couple will absolutely repeat the same argument, but it will never be as difficult as that first wave. In fact the rupture can be a doorway to deeper intimacy.

As it is with couples, our internal system can ride the wave of emotion regulation. Learning to regulate one’s emotions is not something that just happens in the mind. The brain is part of the nervous system, which extends to the entire body. Regulation is part of the whole system and cannot be accomplished by words alone.

My first career was teaching yoga teacher, long before I became a therapist. I taught yoga when I was attending graduate school for my master’s in counseling. I have long believed that this body practice that I did on my own and taught others has helped me to regulate emotions, as it connects my nervous system to my present body awareness.

In reflecting on my own current physical and emotional distress, as well as the collective, my mind floated back to my earliest studies of Somatics. The words somatic has become very well known, with both somatic practitioners becoming certified, and the specialization in somatic therapy. I possess an old worn-out copy of the book Somatics, by Thomas Hannah. I remember years ago teaching these movements in my gentle yoga classes. I learned later that his theory is based on the work of Moshe Feldenkreis, and I have had opportunities to practice this method with many movement practitioners.

Hannah’s description of the nervous system, and how that body moves both in distress and in ease is called the red light and green light reflex. His theory shares that it is normal for the body in distress to pull the extremities forward and in. Doing so protects our most vulnerable parts of the body, and while this movement is happening, the autonomic nervous system will signal the body to produce more cortisol and adrenaline so that one can fight or run from the significant stressor. I notice as a trauma therapist that people can get stuck in this red-light reflex both physically and emotionally. Without practices to help the body return to the parasympathetic response, the nervous system in absence of a significant threat will continue to perceive threat. This leads to a heighted autonomic nervous system response.

I have recommended over that years to clients, students and supervisees that a mindfulness movement practice helps us return to parasympathetic, or the green light reflex that Hannah describes. What I found fascinating in being a yoga teacher is that students could continue to be in the autonomic response even if they had a long-standing yoga practice. As a certified yoga teacher, I know that understanding the anatomy of breath, and how I breathe makes a difference in how I approach my mindfulness movement practice. It also requires being able to notice when we feel at ease, or in the parasympathetic. Without this it might feel habitual or foreign to have anything but a stress response. In trauma therapy, I see people that get stuck doing all the right things and they still end up in the pattern- a reactive nervous system that leads to less time in emotion regulation and settling of the nervous system.

If you have a mindfulness movement practice that helps you feel ease in your body, please know that this ability to regulate your nervous system is so essential, especially now in our world of deep suffering and distress. I follow this practice below and recommend it to folks that need something gentle to help them return to their breath, build body awareness, and ease suffering. The instructor is certified and licensed practitioner Susan Koenig.

https://youtu.be/DKU7OPgHGoA?si=KuwY84TCivZ7QcrE

Another gentle practice is one I recorded during the pandemic that can help with sleep. https://studio.youtube.com/video/QuqHxgGUtjk/edit

If a mindfulness movement practice is not an option for you, I encourage you to try some guided body centered practices. I have a few on my podcast, and I especially like this one on humming https://www.buzzsprout.com/1929025/episodes/13125318

As a licensed mental health therapist, I am glad to introduce practices in mindfulness movement to help you regulate your nervous system as part of a trauma informed approach to therapy. Please email me if you would like to schedule an appointment at janysmurphyrising@gmail.com

This blog post is for educational purposes only, and not a substitute for healthcare including mental health. Please consult appropriate medical or health care providers if you have any concerns about whether the information provided here can augment your ongoing professional medical care.

Resources

Hannah, T. (2004). Somatics: Reawakening the Mind’s Control of Movement, Flexibility, and Health. Balance

Koenig, S. (January 23, 2026). Putting It All Together: The Daily Cat Routine. YouTube https://youtu.be/DKU7OPgHGoA?si=KuwY84TCivZ7QcrE

Menakem, R. (2017). My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and Our Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies. Central Recovery Press.

Murphy Rising, J. (January 23, 2026) Yoga for Insomnia. YouTube https://studio.youtube.com/video/QuqHxgGUtjk/edit

Rothschild, B. (2000) The Body Remembers: The Psychophysiology of Trauma and Treatment. Better World Books.